Bucs give Blanock day to remember
Canon-McMillan senior Luke Blanock threw out the first pitch at the Pirates game against the Brewers Sunday at PNC Park.
As Luke Blanock trotted onto the grass at PNC Park wearing a white embroidered Pirates jersey, he looked around at the 28,000 fans filing into their seats Sunday afternoon. Holding a baseball in his hand, Blanock grinned and pointed to a section filled with almost 40 family members, then to a group of friends across the field.
Minutes before, a ballpark employee gave Blanock instructions: some people throw from the mound, others stand a few feet in front and he had the option to toss the ceremonial first pitch from any angle.
Blanock, a senior at Canon-McMillan, chuckled. A week of rigorous chemotherapy and days without being able to eat a full meal did not stop him from pitching two scoreless innings against Peters Township two nights before.
Throwing a strike to a parrot mascot would be a walk in the park. Blanock, who is battling metastatic Ewing’s sarcoma, wound up and tossed a perfect strike. It was a moment that sent the crowd to its feet.
“I threw a strike in there and the parrot dropped it,” Blanock said with a chuckle. “He needs to work on his fundamentals because I threw a strike and he missed it.
“I didn’t get any time to warm up, so I didn’t know if I’d get it in there, but I did. My arm felt metallic. I don’t know how to describe it. It felt weird throwing it because I was so nervous.”
Nervous or not, it was a success. The pitch capped a day in which Blanock met his favorite athlete and Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, who called two weeks ago to check on his condition.
Blanock received the invitation to throw out the pitch through Scott Carson, who is the father of Blanock’s teammate, George. Dr. Patrick DeMeo, the team’s Medical Director, also reached out to Luke’s father, Kurt.
DeMeo heard of Blanock’s battle and wanted to check his progress. The longtime orthopedic surgeon spoke to Kurt about the diagnosis and wanted Luke’s phone number to pass on to Hurdle. It did not take long for Hurdle to call from his hotel room in Milwaukee.
The two finally met Sunday afternoon and it was one of many encounters for the Blanock family. Luke, Kurt and the Carsons toured the clubhouse as Pirates players wandered in and out from batting practice. The group walked in on A.J. Burnett receiving a massage in DeMeo’s office, met general manager Neil Huntington and asked Neil Walker, a Pine-Richland graduate, to excuse them for playing for a different WPIAL Class AAAA school.
“George (Carson) said to him, ‘I hope you won’t hold it against us that we are Canon-Mac guys,'” Blanock said. “He said he wouldn’t hold it against us, but would if we were from Mt. Lebanon or North Allegheny. … We said we wouldn’t blame him, either. It was really funny.”
Walker then stepped out to grab Luke’s favorite player, Josh Harrison, who signed Blanock’s No. 5 jersey.
A 5-8 third baseman, Harrison is a player nobody expected to make a meteoric rise from an afterthought in affiliated ball to an all-star. Blanock is enamored with the underdog story. After doctors told him 17 months ago that his athletic career might be over, Harrison’s story is one he can relate to.
It was one of many moments that made Kurt Blanock smile. He watched his son struggle last week with the effects of chemotherapy.
Last December, doctors removed a tumor and part of Luke’s lower spine. He subsequently underwent 75 days of chemotherapy, as well as 131 individual applications of radiation. Blanock returned to school in the fall and played basketball this winter, but a scan last month revealed a tumor in his leg.
Luke Blanock received his first round of treatment two weeks ago, which included two doses of chemotherapy medication a day through a port in his chest. Blanock will have two weeks off between rounds of treatment, but it is taking its toll. He has been losing weight and hair. A trip to PNC Park helped alleviate some stress.
“It was just a really nice day on Sunday,” Kurt Blanock said. “It was a rough week for him and it definitely was a nice break. It’s terrible seeing him go through treatment again. It was a great moment for him and the people in the organization were so welcoming to us.”
A throw to home plate at PNC Park was the latest in a long line of challenges. The next will come today against section rival Mt. Lebanon and its future Division I left-handed pitcher, Austin Kitchen. Blanock will pitch for Canon-Mac. The game will be played 5:30 p.m. at Washington & Jefferson’s Ross Memorial Park.
“In my couple weeks off from treatment, I’ve just been going to baseball and playing like I always do,” Luke Blanock said. “Nothing has changed and I’m not going to let the treatment change anything.”